Amaryllis, Lily or Hippeastrum? Who knows…
by dragontrainer93
Summary: A typical lazy evening in front of the fireplace, slowly sipping warm apple cider....suddenly your girlfriend appears at the door dripping wet with a box in her hand.... A bulb and a couple...how much could go wrong?


Hey y'all!! This is my first non-anime FanFic!

I've decided to base this story on a type of bulb called a Hippeastrum. The're actually very beautiful flowers and are usually available around Christmas time and New Years in box kits.

No ones really ever written anything about plants before, so i thought this would be really unique!:)

Well... lets see how many people actually read and review this weird story!:P:P

Enjoy!!:D:D:D

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It all began one stormy, windy and snowy November evening. I was just sitting comfortably in front of my blazing fireplace, sipping a mug of piping hot mulled apple cider. Then suddenly, my blissful heaven was interrupted by the loud slam of the front door, followed by the squishy sound of wet boots. I turned around and faced my girlfriend, who had just returned from the grocery store.

"Look!" she gasped, clearly out of breath. She was holding a medium sized black plastic bag in front of her. My eyes widened in surprise as standing right in front of me was my girlfriend, Alice, still in her boots and a dripping wet winter coat, holding the plastic bag and beaming with pride. This scene struck me as somewhat comical and I fought to suppress a fit of giggles. Keeping a serene expression, I could only manage to utter some few words,

"At what?" I asked half laughing, half serious. She did little to hid her annoyance, but soon recovered and quizzed me further,

"Guess what I got at the grocery store?" she asked. Alice had a keen eye for discounts everywhere we went, so I said the first thing that came to mind,

"Um... A new table Christmas tree, 50% off?" I asked,

"No, silly, "she pulled out a box from the bag, "this..." she replied. I jumped off my chair and went nearer for a closer inspection. There was a large, reddish pink lily like flower printed on the box,

"A...marry....list..." I tried to read the name of that thing, "Apple Bosom?"

"Its amaryllis 'Apple Blossom'..." she corrected me. With that, she headed to the kitchen and proceeded to unpack the box. Curious, I decided to follow her. Inside the box was a bag of soil, a pot and something that resembled an oversized onion bulb. It had a strange pointy green growth at the tip of the bulb.

"What's that?" I asked. I hoped she didn't go all the way to the grocery store just to get this oversized onion bulb. We already had tons in the basement, which Alice had brought on sale.

"It's a bulb…", she replied, "an amaryllis bulb." I cocked my head to one side and raised one eyebrow. She took the hint and explained further.

"This is a flowering bulb;" she paused, "which will give rise to many large and beautiful blooms." My eyes wandered from her face to the bulb. 'Large and beautiful...' those words lingered dreamily in my mind. The bulb, however, didn't look very promising...

Alice assembled the growing kit, potted the bulb up and watered it deeply. She then placed the pot on top of our empty kitchen window. Her mission complete, she scooped herself a cup of apple cider and sat down next to me in front of the fireplace.

"Are you sure that thing will grow?" I asked, remembering the dried up, dead looking roots below the bulb. Alice smiled and replied with a simple answer, "Just wait and see...."

Weeks and weeks flew by. Soon it was close to a month and yet, the bulb sat in its pot, refusing to grow. But Alice never gave up or lost hope. Every day, she diligently watered the bulb and encouraged it to grow. Needless to say, it began to take off within the next few days. At first, the pointy growth began to elongate. The flower bud, which we later learned, was called a 'scape'. It grew at an astonishing rate. It was a few inches tall by day and by night; it had reached a foot tall. But it didn't stop there. It continued growing until the bud started to split and by that time, the whole scape was only a few inches shy of two feet. Eventually, even I became fascinated with it. As time rolled on, the sepals began to unfold, revealing 5 tightly packed flowers.

About a week before Christmas, I just happened to be strolling past a coffee shop on the way home from work, when I noticed Alice inside. At first, I figured she was alone, but then a man came by and sat opposite from her. They started chatting and laughing together. I stood behind a gnarled tree trunk, feelings of betrayal brewing inside and stared at the happy couple. I thought we had promised to be loyal to each other before we decided to move in together? Didn't she vow to be with me and only me alone? These thoughts whirled around inside my head as I continued to stare at them. Finally, I decided to go home and wait for her there, as it would have been too embarrassing out in the public. However, after I left, another young woman joined the table. This woman and the man began cuddling and kissing each other, while Alice just smiled and watched them in silence...

Back in our house, I was sitting in wait for Alice, desperate to extract some answers from her. She finally arrived home half an hour later. Without waiting, I lashed out at her.

"What the hell were you doing just now?!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. She was obviously confused and replied with uncertainty.

"Whoa, I'm right in front of you.. Keep your voice down," she began, "I was just downtown with my friends having tea...". What? Even after I caught her, she was still trying to act innocent?

"Friends?" I asked, "I suppose you don't mean lover!!" I accused. With that, she lost her calmness and her anger boiled.

"What are YOU talking about!?" she screamed, "how did you know anyway?" she then paused. Suddenly, she shot back at me,

"Oh my god! You were stalking me?" she exclaimed, " I can't believe it! Why can't you just give me some privacy?!"

"Oh yeah? So that you can go on dating that guy without a care in the world?" I mocked her.

"What?! For goodness's sake, that was my best friend's husband!" she shouted back. Then it hit me. And it hit really hard. So that's who it was...her best friend's husband. I felt like an idiot for even doubting her. Deep inside my heart, I knew she would have never betrayed me....but still....

"Are you satisfied now?!" she asked. I was stunned and lost for words. That said, she took off to the stairs and ran up to the guest room.

"Um... Alice...I'm..." I began. But she didn't want to hear it.

"Forget it!" she shouted and slammed the door behind her.

I did not want to further upset her by going upstairs, so I slept in the living room sofa that night, full of regret for what happened. I made a resolve to apologize to her first thing in the morning.

A ray of sunshine streamed in through the window and landed on my eyes, jolting me awake. I stood up wearily, remembering the past night's incidents. I decided to have a cup of hot chocolate before confronting my fears. As I approached the kitchen, I discovered that someone was already there. Alice was still in her pajamas, staring at the amaryllis, which has now exploded into full bloom. I slowly made my way over to her. Halfway there, she acknowledged my presence and turned around. Her eyes were still red from tears.

"Look..." she whispered, " its fully open...". I walked right up to her and put my arms around her.

"Alice...I'm...sorr-" I started, but she raised her hand for silence.

"No, it was my fault..." she declared, " I should have told you where I was going..I'm sorry.."

"No, no it was MY fault and I'm sorry" I countered.

"I said it's my fault..." she replied..

And it went on and on. Until we both burst out laughing. We stared deeply into each other's eyes for a long time, and then diverted our gaze to the flower. It was gorgeous, just as Alice had described. The petals were huge, six of them. Three of the upper petals were a shade of light pink while the three other lower ones were pure cream white. Each petal had a layer of sparkling fairy dust which amplified its whole beauty. The whole flower spanned a diameter of seven inches.

"It's beautiful, isn't it..?" Alice asked, sighing contentedly.

"Yea..." I replied, smiling.

So there we sat, arm in arm, staring at this magnificent flower called 'Amaryllis' in front of us.....that is, until our stomachs rumbled.

To end it all, it turns out that the best things in life can be the simplest and cheapest of things; Love, loyalty, trust….. and an oversized onion bulb.

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Whew! All done..... I may decide to write other chapters for this IF i get reviews on this and requests to continue:)

P/S...Don't forget to review!!:D:D

DragonTrainer93


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